Out of Focus (Love in LA #3)

“Fuck the list, Charlie, and let me fuck you with my mouth. You want to know what a relationship is like? This is how it should be. With your man desperate to taste you.” I kiss her jaw, then her neck, sucking at that spot over her pulse that makes her squirm. “Please, pumpkin. I’m dying here.” I squeeze her tighter against me, knowing I’ll never want to let go now.

“So dramatic,” she pants, and we both laugh. Goddamn, I love laughing with her. Especially like this. It just feels so right. She runs her fingers through my hair and kisses me lightly on the lips. “Okay,” she whispers. “Yes. Fuck me with that filthy, glorious mouth.” I don’t need to be told twice. I shove her leggings and panties down to her knees and pick her up, setting her down on the countertop. She yelps at the shock of the cold.

“Shit. I should have thought about that.” I set her feet back on the floor and quickly grab my discarded jacket, laying it on the countertop behind her before picking her up again. Then I yank at her bottoms, tossing them on the floor behind me.

Charlie eyes me for a moment, waiting for instructions. “Lie back for me. Let me see you.” I lick my lips, anticipating my first taste of Charlie. Fuck, I hope it’s not my last. She leans back on her elbows, still watching me as she lets her legs fall open. My eyes immediately go to the apex of her thighs. “Goddamn, shortcake. You’re dripping. That’s all for me?” Please say yes. Please say yes.

“Yes.” Her voice is clear, but her chest is heaving with her quickened breaths. “Rafael?” I meet her eyes again. “Touch me.” No preamble. No please. So very Charlie.

I start at her ankles and massage my way up her legs, kissing the insides of her knees. Her legs start to shake, so I grab hold of them, pulling her closer to me, kissing down her thighs. I take her in up close, the one strip of red hair leading down to the only place I want to be right now. Dragging my finger from her entrance to her clit, I move it around her sensitive spot, but never over it. Again and again, I tease her. “Beautiful,” I say right before I move my finger over the tight nub, just once, making her groan. “Mine,” I say, so quietly I’m not even sure she hears me. I repeat the movement as she writhes and whimpers. Then, I lick, and lick, and lick. I put my tongue and my lips everywhere except where she wants me most, until she’s panting. Desperate. Wild. I take her clit into my mouth and suck gently, and she screams my name.

Fuck, yes.

I continue, alternating between flicks and a slower movement with the pad of my tongue, until I feel and hear what she likes best. “Mmmm, so good,” she mumbles, fingers tangling in my hair, right where they belong. “Don’t stop.”

I don’t ever want to stop. Nothing’s ever tasted so good, so mine.

Mine.

That word plays in my head over and over.

Mine, mine, mine.

I push a finger into her, making her moan a little louder. Not enough, it tells me. I add another, and she gasps, her inner walls tightening around my fingers. “That’s right, gata. Let me feel your tight pussy gripping my fingers. You take it so well. Like you’re gonna take my cock.” She tightens around me again, and I go back to lavishing her clit with my tongue, curling my fingers inside her.

“Fuuuuck. Raf!” She screams my name again and again, and I don’t let up until her legs finally relax. I pull my fingers out, licking them clean, because Charlie is a taste I’ll never have enough of. I know that now.

I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, then pull her limp body into mine and hug her close, her head resting on my shoulder, her breath on my neck. I want to kiss her, but given her reaction earlier, I’m not sure if that’s a deal breaker for her. But again. Charlie is full of surprises. She nips at my neck and kisses the same spot, then lifts her head to look at me, and our lips meet, her tongue swiping over mine as she moans into my mouth. Yeah, I’ve got the perfect woman.

Reluctantly, I pull back. “I know I said we wouldn’t be late, but…”

“We should go,” she finishes for me. “Yes. You’re right. Let me go clean up.” As she scurries away from me, clutching her leggings to her body, I already miss her.

36/

you just like know all that?

rafael

When we’re about to arrive at Owen and Maeve’s house, donuts in tow, Charlie turns to me. “We have to… They can’t know. No one can know. You know that, right?”

“About what, red?” She rolls her eyes at me, and yet again, my dick takes notice. “About how you had my dick in your mouth a couple of hours ago? Or how you came on my tongue?” Reaching over, she flicks me on the ear, and I wonder if she learned that from Vó or if she’s also exceptionally good at inflicting pain with such a small movement. I take her hand and kiss her knuckles. “Or do you not want them to know how much I like kissing you? How you’re my favorite taste in the world? Is that what you don’t want them to know?”

Her answering blush travels from her cheeks to her neck. “Your filthy mouth is truly relentless.”

“Yeah, but you like it, carrot cake.” I wink at her, and she scoffs. Our old dynamic comes back easily, but now it’s got a fresh foundation. One built on trust, understanding, friendship, and something I’m sure I’m not allowed to name.

Walking into the James household, Charlie is immediately whisked away by her sister. Owen steers me to a table outside, where Adam is nearly inhaling a cup of coffee.

“Hey, man. We brought donuts, but good luck prying them away from the girls.” I give him a pat on the back and move to sit next to him.

“We?” He sets his cup down and gives me a knowing look. “You and Charlie are we now, huh? I guess the hate game you were playing has finally ended?”

“Well, we arrived together, if that’s what you mean.” I pour myself some coffee from the carafe someone must have brought out earlier. “And I never hated her. You know that.”

Both of my friends hum a non-committal response, and when the conversation moves to Adam’s latest project and Owen’s expansion of the stables, my brain stays laser-focused on every minute I’ve spent with Charlie, which is probably why the question slips from my lips. “How did you guys know?” They both look at me, waiting for me to explain what the fuck I’m talking about. “That she was the one, how did you know?” Adam is about to start answering , but I cut him off. “Actually, never mind. You don’t need to answer that. You fell in love with Lainey the second you saw her shaking her a—” I stop myself and glimpse at Owen, who is already shaking his head.

“Were you really just about to say my brother-in-law fell in love with my little sister when he saw her ass?” He rubs a hand down his face in exasperation. He had to watch Lainey and Adam fall in love, just like the rest of us did. But I don’t feel bad.